Day Sixty-One: Let Me Be Loved

I was visiting the blog called Old Tweener and their post from Sunday really touched my heart and I wrote a mile long response in the comment section (sorry about that!).

I thought that maybe I should put it here as a blog post. It is an emotional topic for me and I am sure for many others as well. I know that many of my friends had very difficult childhoods, hard times at
school, etc.

It shouldn't be that way. Our childhoods should be happy. Home should be a safe haven and school a fun place to learn and explore our horizons. If schooling and home life are one and the same, all the better. :)

I know what it is like to be that one kid, always the outsider, never fitting in, fears and tears as bed mates and looking forward to school because at least you wouldn't be around the fighting and hateful words. Always feeling worthless and unwanted, even at school because you were the last one chosen for the games, and you wore glasses and you were short, and your clothes didn't come from the mall.

Yeah, I know.

I think this is what makes me so angry when I hear about kids getting picked on at school (or wherever), or see people being mean to them. It makes me think unChristian things because I know that kid is thinking "why can't anyone just LOVE me? Why?"

Then, that one person comes along, they smile at you, they let you sit with them, they let you play, they tell you that you're just the way Heavenly Father wants you to be, that "great things come in small packages".

You get the caliber speech from the teacher that caught you with a cheat sheet that you didn't use because you knew how to spell the words; you just wanted to see what the big deal was with cheating. She tells you that she knows you are better than that, that you have so much potential and she believes in you to the point that you HAVE to work hard to make her proud. You start to know that, yes, someone does care whether you live or die.

That smile, those words, they make all the difference in the world. That smile, those words are how I survived my childhood with any ray of hope intact.

They do make a difference.

61. I am thankful for grandparents that loved me and were my shelter in the storm. I am thankful for teachers that saw a potential jewel in such a rough cut stone. I am thankful for friends that are true friends, in word and in deed. I am thankful for merry-go-rounds and "I reckon" and all they brought with them.

One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are